Adobe releases first update to Director in four years

Remember Macromedia Director? The software used to create web, CD, and DVD …

Do you guys remember Director, Macromedia's old app for creating Shockwave applications for the web? Designers and developers used to actually use it to create games and other interactive webby/CD/DVD things (I would know, I used to be one of them), but then Flash got better and became more prevalent. Once Adobe acquired Macromedia in 2005, most of us saw the writing on the wall for Director. The app that hadn't seen an update in longer than I've been writing for Ars was sure to die, cold and alone. Perhaps it would share a gravestone with Adobe's GoLive.

But hark! Old, decrepit Director is back from the (near) dead today with version 11, all CS3-ified by Adobe. Or at least its icon is. Director 11 boasts a number of new features that Adobe hopes will attract developers back to the platform, including native 3D rendering (wow, that would have been nice back when I was in college maybe) with DirectX 9 support, support for Unicode, bitmap filters (*gasp*), a new physics engine (ooh), full JavaScript support, an "enhanced" Script browser, and support for Flash CS3. You can check out the full feature list online, but I'll admit that these features are pretty significant additions to the application. Now if only Adobe had added these in like... I dunno. 2005.

Still, if you're interested in getting back into the old groove, the new Director 11 can be preordered for $999 with an upgrade available from Director MX for $299. Educators can get the full version for $299, though, and students will be able to pick it up for a mere $99. "Preorder?" Correct: It won't be available until the end of March, with international versions available by June. If you're running Windows XP SP2, Vista, or OS X 10.4+, you'll be able to run Director 11.